Nord C1 power supply board (pcb) is broken

[rrg123]

Hello everyone,

I'm reaching out to this community for some urgent help regarding my Nord C1 organ. The organ is over 10 years old and has been a reliable part of my setup for many years.

Recently, I powered it up but unfortunately, after about a minute, there was a sound followed by smoke coming from the unit. The power turned off and I've investigated the issue. Upon inspection, I found that the power supply PCB, model Nord Power G2 version 0.3, is broken.

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The fuse isn't broken, so its a part on the board itself that is broken. I can still smell some smoke-ish smell, like the RIFA PME 271 (4n7 X2) in the top left. I also see a small leak (?) from the brown X capacitor (bottom left)

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I've already unscrewed the power supply PCB and now I'm in need of a replacement board or any other solution that can get my beloved Nord C1 back up and running.

Has anyone faced a similar issue or know where I can find a replacement power supply PCB? Any advice on potential repairs or trustworthy suppliers would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance for your assistance!

[pterm]

Sorry you're having this problem.

The most likely cause of the failure are the electrolytic (large, brown, barrel-shaped, with "X" on top) capacitors. When they fail, they often vent gas through the "X" on top.
I recommend replacing all of them.

I don't see any obvious damage to either RIFA PME 271 (4n7 X2), but if you see evidence of damage to them, they ought to be replaced too.

I expect this board can be easily repaired. It's components ought to be very similar to the power schematic found on the last page of:
NE2 Schematic and Service

Please contact me if you have any difficulties and let the forum know what outcome you reach.
Best of luck with the repair.
Hopefully nothing further is damaged.

[cgrafx]

Almost 100% sure all of Nord power supplies are the same and I'd expect this to be a drop in replacement, even though it doesn't explicitly say so.

https://instrumentalparts.com/power-sup ... ams-60300/

Send an email off to Nord tech support to verify for sure.

EDIT: Did a little digging. The new power supply has a 12-pin connector vs the 10-pin connector on your current power supply. So you'd need to have somebody wire up a small plug adaptor cable to go from your existing cable to the new 12-pin header. It would be a very simple modification.

Or you can have the existing power supply repaired. As long as the transformer hasn't be damaged (which is unlikely), it would mostly be replacing the capacitors on the board and probably one or two of the voltage regulator IC's which would likely have been damaged.

If your lucky it would just need the 4 large capacitors (tall brown cylinders) replaced and everything else is still intact.

pg

[rrg123]

Thank you for your responses!

I am currently working on making a list of all the components on the PCB board and where they can be purchased. The suggestion to buy a new power board is also a good one. Through https://instrumentalparts.com/pcb-assy- ... ams-60231/, I see another type of power board PCB that does have 10 pins. I have emailed instrumentalparts.com to see if they can provide more information.

Buying and soldering components is cheaper than buying an entirely new power supply board. Is it actually easy to measure if a component has failed? I am new to measuring current or resistance, but I can solder.

I will continue updating this thread!

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nord c1 service manual v1.0.pdf

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[maxpiano]

If you are not familiar with repairing a PSU, you may also ask a generic local electronic repair shop and sharing with them schematics and parts list it should be very easy for them to give you a quotation, so you can decide if you want to have it repaired by them.

[rrg123]

Here is a quick update. I found the Dutch distributor via Nord: https://www.nordkeyboards.com/distributors. A representative mentioned that they will find out the part number for me. This way, I can order the part number through a Nord dealer.

Additionally, there was a suggestion to replace the part on the power supply PCB myself. The distributor also mentioned that they cannot provide schematics for self-repair. I'll let you know what happens next.

[rrg123]

Unfortunately, the part no longer seems to be available through a distributor.

I regret to inform you that we are unable to supply the item you requested because our supplier has indicated that the item is no longer available.

[cgrafx]

Here is a quick update. I found the Dutch distributor via Nord: https://www.nordkeyboards.com/distributors. A representative mentioned that they will find out the part number for me. This way, I can order the part number through a Nord dealer.

Additionally, there was a suggestion to replace the part on the power supply PCB myself. The distributor also mentioned that they cannot provide schematics for self-repair. I'll let you know what happens next.

You don't need schematics to replace the capacitors or even most of the other components on the board. All of the part numbers are easily readable and there are actually only a handful of Capacitors total on the board.

Any competent repair tech should be able to fix the power supply easily without a schematic.

[wvujazzman]

You might want to reach out to syntaur.com - they are my go to supplier for parts for older gear. I don’t know if they have the specific PS board you’re looking for, but they do have a ton of PS boards available.